A bright and sunny morning, if a tad on the breezy side. It's not cold, with the temperature already into double figures at 10 am. Started the day by washing the salt off the windows - couldn't see a thing. Who needs net curtains if you can have a gale and seaspray.
The freighter Wilson Dover, which was in distress in galeforce conditions off Cape Wrath yesterday, was safely towed into Kirkwall, Orkney. The coastguard tug Anglian Sovereign managed to get the ship alongside the Hatston terminal north of the town at 8 am this morning.
With reference to the Battle at Culloden, April 1746, a military historian has called for a memorial to be erected in memory of the soldiers who fought on the side of the Duke of Cumberland, in opposition to the Jacobite forces, led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Not much is being made of the Red Coats, as all the attention is focused on BPC. I have previously made clear that I feel that the Jacobite prince was a royal fool and incompetent to a catastrophic degree. Whilst the clan system was already on the way out in the mid 18th century, Charlie's actions served to give the Hannoverian forces the pretext they needed to go on the rampage in the Highlands and Islands.
Culloden is often marked as the occasion which marked the end of the Scotland of old. Well, in 1707, Scotland had already ceased to be an independent nation, by virtue of the merger of the Scottish Parliament into the Westminster one in London. The rebellions by the Old Pretender in 1715 and his son, the Young Pretender, in 1746, served no purpose. To this day, the people in the Highlands and Islands can be claimed to feel the effects of the disaster that was Culloden, without a doubt.
Comparing Scotland to Norway, as some politicians like to do, throws up some unpleasant home truths. The remote areas in Norway are supported, if necessary subsidised, by the government in Oslo. The remote areas of Scotland are not supported to any degree like that of the Norwegians. The fish farming industry is a case in point, where plants and companies have been taken over by foreign parties - to be closed down and asset stripped. The Norwegians would never allow that to happen in e.g. the Lofoten Islands. So, why does the Scottish Government or indeed the British Government permit it?
No, I'm not a Scottish nationalist. Far from it. Regular readers are aware of my provenance. This post is merely one of my pet hates, the elevation of Prince Charles Edward to the status of near-sainthood in Scottish history. The man was an unmitigated disaster for Scotland.
Hear! Hear! I quite agree with you about BPC.
ReplyDeleteAs for the fishing industry. Asset stripping is not only happening in the islainds fisheries. Take Cadbury's for another instance.
There is also talk of selling the facilities of Dover to France.
There doesn't seem to be a big hue and cry over selling out Dover to France. Not that I have read anyway.
Jeanie
The Jacobite era is one of my favorites to research but not because I am in sympathy with the Bonnie Prince, because I am not. He was a womanizer, according to many historic accounts, among other things. He was the type, though, to inspire followers, and I have to wonder how far he might have gone if the clans had not jealously fought among themselves. I had MacDougall cousins who fought at Colloden (and were taken prisoner), although the Chief of the clan at that time did not join the uprising in '45. (They did officially fight for the Old Pretender in '15, though.) My own Dowell ancestors had emigrated to England by the time of the first uprising, and then to the US by the time of the second. I'm not much in sympathy with Butcher Cumberland, but Charles certainly didn't do his country any good in the end. The whole story makes for interesting research and some rather good historical fiction, though.
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